


Mother

by DianaandAlicia



Series: Post Good Out Here [5]
Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Backstory, Hurt/Comfort, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 21:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaandAlicia/pseuds/DianaandAlicia
Summary: As Althea finds out more about Alicia's past, new feelings come to light.





	Mother

**Author's Note:**

> This one doesn't have a beta. I do apologize. For timeline purposes, this is set about a week after the last story.

 It was mid evening when Althea noticed the blood stain. Dry but new, staining Alicia's jeans. The stain wasn't huge, but it covered her entire knee cap so Al knew it was a bit more serious. 

"Alicia what happened to your knee?" She asked, getting everyone else's attention. 

The whole group had gathered in the living room, sitting around doing quiet activities. It was raining outside so they had to stay in. Luciana was knitting, John was looking at a Farmer's Almanac, and Victor and Morgan were playing chess. 

Al was just sitting in her chair staring into space and Alicia was sitting next to her doing the same. Since Al wasn't occupied, she noticed Alicia's knee. 

"I tripped on the gravel and fell this morning." Alicia said quietly, not making eye contact with Al. 

"Did you clean it up? Put a Band-Aid on it?" 

Alicia shook her head, her face heating up from Al putting all the attention on her. 

"Why wouldn't you clean it up? Alicia scrapes can get infected and especially in this world, we can't have that. I thought you of all people would be more responsible." Al scolded. Usually Alicia wasn't this careless. 

Alicia's face burned from embarrassment and she quickly left the room, going upstairs to take care of the scrape. Althea's never scolded her like that before and she didn't want to disappoint her. 

"Next time go easier on her." Victor said, looking at Al with a sad look. "She doesn't like disappointing you." 

"What? Disappointing me? What do I have to do with it?" 

"I've known Alicia for a few years, and in these past months, you are the closest to a caring mother that Alicia has ever had." 

"I don't try to mother her, if that's what you're getting at." 

"When Alicia was a kid, Nick started doing drugs. A year later her father died and then her mother was more worried about Nick, so Alicia was neglected. Her mother expected her to raise herself, and in the three years between her father dying and the apocalypse starting, Alicia had to struggle with maintaining good grades, parenting herself, and the stress of being Nick's nurse when he came home from the hospital with withdrawals. All of her hard work caring for him was for nothing though, because once he was well and finished rehab, he'd go get high and the whole process would start over again. And she didn't volunteer to help out with Nick. It was expected of her. If she had refused, Madison would blame her for being a bad sister." 

Althea blinked at Victor, not sure how to respond. 

"Back in the first few months of the world ending, we were at a hotel. Nick voluntarily left our group, but Madison was hell bent on looking for him and bringing him back, even though he chose to go. She did something that compromised Alicia's safety, and she didn't care that Alicia was the child that stayed. Alicia wasn't good enough. And it is pretty much common knowledge in the Clark family that Nick was Madison's favorite. I've heard the siblings discuss it before, with Alicia bringing it up and Nick knowing that it's so true that he doesn't even bother to contradict it." Victor said before continuing. 

 "When something happens to Alicia, she tends to keep it to herself, because she's afraid that telling will make her a burden to others. One thing that I learned about her is that she doesn't want to bother people. Because of her mother's neglect, Alicia had to raise herself, so she's more self-reliant than most her age, but even teenagers and young adults need help, and she's had to learn how to deal with things herself, so sometimes she doesn't know how to ask for help." 

Althea just stared at Victor, dumbfounded. 

"Alicia had the later part of her childhood, and her entire adolescence ripped away from her. There are experiences that she's missed out on in life, because her mother didn't care enough to talk to her about them. There are some situations where she just doesn't know how to handle it, or know what to do, because no one has ever told her. And if she accidentally screws up, then it's all her fault. Sometimes the only time Madison was paying attention to her was if she was yelling at her. So next time, please go easy on her. Besides Luciana and a couple other woman that we've met on this journey, you're one of the only women who's been nice to her, and she sees you as a mother or big sister figure, if you will." Victor finished up, going back to his game with Morgan. 

Once Victor finished, Althea got up out of her chair and quietly went upstairs. She found Alicia in the bathroom, sitting on the counter. Her skinny jeans were on the floor and she had a dry cotton ball in one hand, with an unopened jar of hydrogen peroxide on the counter next to her. Her knee had dried blood on it that needed to be cleaned off. 

Al softly knocked on the door frame. "Hey, would you like some help with that?" 

Alicia nodded, sniffling. She was crying out of shame and embarrassment, afraid that Althea was mad at her. 

Al helped Alicia off the counter and lowered the lid of the toilet before sitting her down. She then got a washcloth and wet it with warm water, before crouching down and cleaning the blood off of Alicia's knee as gently as possible. 

Once there was no more blood, she took some toilet paper and dried off Alicia's knee, not wanting any extra water anywhere. 

"Ok, this might sting a little Sweetheart." Al warned as she put hydrogen peroxide on the cotton ball that Alicia was holding. She took the ball and dabbed it against the scrape, wanting to clean it up thoroughly. Alicia winced at the sting and whimpered a bit, but it wasn't so bad. Finally, Althea opened up one of the cabinet drawers and rummaged around, pulling out some antibacterial ointment and a bandage big enough for Alicia's scrape. When Alicia's knee was covered by both the ointment and the bandage, Al finished off by giving the bandage a kiss, and giving Alicia a hug. 

"Let's go have a little chat." Al said, helping Alicia up and taking her to her bedroom. She picked the dirty jeans up off the floor and put them in the hamper outside the bathroom. She helped Alicia put some pajamas pants on and once she was dressed, the two settled down in the rocking chair, with Alicia sitting on Althea's lap. 

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, especially in front of everyone. I didn't mean to." 

"It's ok. I deserved it." 

"No. Alicia, Honey, you deserve so much better. I want you to know that you can come to me for anything and I will help you. Victor told me that your mother used to push you to the side. I promise that I will never do that. If you want attention, I'll give you some. If you need help with something, I'll help you. If you have questions about life, I'll answer them as best as I can." 

"You don't have to do that, I'm almost 21, I should really be taking care of myself." 

"Alicia, you're never too old to ask for help. In this house, you are NOT a burden, and you are NOT bothering anyone. While it's ok to be self-reliant, I also need you to know that even grownups need help and it's not shameful to ask for it from time to time. We are all here for you." 

"But after a while you'll all get sick of me." 

"Baby Girl, we didn't get sick of you when you crashed in your room for three months straight. We didn't get sick of you when you first started coming out of your room, every crying fit and cuddle fest, every nightmare. Alicia, we have never gotten sick of you in the past few months, and there is nothing that you could do to make us start feeling that way." 

"Nothing?" 

"Absolutely nothing."  

Alicia was silent for a few minutes and the girls continued to rock.  

"Mommy said that she didn't love me any less than she loved Nick, but I think she was lying." 

Alicia's childish tone of voice made Althea pause for a split second, but she didn't say anything. Alicia had stuff that she needed to get out and she should be allowed to do that in a judgement free zone. 

"Even before the apocalypse, and before Daddy died and Nick did drugs, she always loved him more. I don't think I was ever good enough." 

"Baby Girl..." Al said sadly, running her fingers up and down Alicia's back. Even though she never met the woman, she knew from how the younger girl was describing her, that she'd hate Madison's guts. 

"Did you have any kids Al?" 

"Nah. I hadn't found the perfect person yet. I was so focused on my journalism career. I had both boyfriends and girlfriends in the past but at the time of the start of the apocalypse, I was single." 

"Do you want kids?" 

"You know, when the world was still normal, I hadn't really given it much thought. I mean, I like kids, but they weren't on a list of priorities that I had. If it happened it happened, and if it didn't than it didn't. Now though, I don't think I'd ever bring a child into this world. It's too risky." 

Alicia nodded in understanding. She shifted a bit on Al's lap. "Do you consider me like your kid?" 

"Sometimes. Other days I see you like a little sister. And on the days where I see neither, I see you as a good friend. No matter how we see each other, all of us in this house are like a family and I love that. Why? Do you see me like a mother?" 

"Not in a sense where I'd call you Mom, but yeah, kind of. I mean the last few months, between you and Luciana, you two have provided more care and love for me than I can remember my mom ever doing." 

Althea nodded in understanding. "Well if it makes any difference Alicia, you're my favorite child." 

Alicia looked up at Al with tears in her eyes. It wasn't something she was prepared to ever hear in her life.  

She was someone's favorite.  

"I've never been anyone's favorite before." Alicia whispered, cuddling closer to Althea. 

Althea's heart broke at that and she ran her fingers up and down Alicia's back again, wanting to calm her. The girl was probably feeling a whirlwind of emotions at the moment.  

"Al?" 

"Yes Honey?" 

"I wish we could stay like this forever. You make me feel safe." 

Althea could feel her heart swell with love from that statement. She squeezed Alicia into a hug and pressed a kiss to her cheek.  

"I wish we could too. But, it's my turn to make supper tonight." 

Alicia huffed in annoyance and pouted at Althea, not wanting the older woman to go. 

"I know Angel. It's not fair. Would you like to help me make dinner? That way we can get the job done and still be able to hang out together." 

"What are we making?"  

"Spaghetti." Al responded, giving Alicia a slight push to get her off her lap. The two went down to the kitchen and Alicia helped Al make supper. Since both girls were working, dinner was made faster and everyone got to sit down and eat sooner. 

Alicia only ate about a quarter of her spaghetti, which was to be expected, and John happily took what Alicia didn't want. This was common in the house since Alicia wasn't eating as much. They didn't want to waste food and since Alicia wasn't going to eat it again, whoever wanted her left overs were allowed to take them.  

After supper, Althea helped Alicia get ready for bed and pretty soon it was time to tuck her in. 

"Can you sleep in here with me tonight?" Alicia asked, snuggling her flannel. 

"I wish I could Angel. But I think it would be best for everyone if we slept in our own beds. If you need me though, my door is always open." 

Alicia nodded and smiled when Al pressed a kiss to the younger girl's forehead. 

"Good night Baby Girl." 

Good night Al." 

Althea smiled and left the room, leaving the door open a crack, before going down to sit by the others. 

**Author's Note:**

> From this point in the series on, Althea has kind of "adopted" Alicia and considers her like a daughter/little sister. If you don't like it, then you don't have to read it. I'm not going to make something up and mention what happens to Madison until we get some actual confirmation because I want to know what happened in the season to cause her to not be with the others.
> 
> If any of y'all like Madison I'm sorry for the Madison hate. I don't like Madison and I feel like she isn't the best mother for her kids, especially Alicia.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading! I hope y'all like it!


End file.
